Wet Paint!

Every year I participate in a charity fundraiser for the Newport Art Museum called Wet Paint. Artists all around Newport go out one Saturday, make some artwork, and then on Sunday auction it off to benefit the museum. This year I made three paintings for the auction (I started a few weeks before) which were sold for $50, $55, and $60 respectively:

Unfortunately none of my paintings were bid up high enough during the silent auction to merit their going on the the tent for the exciting live auction, but there is always next year!

Great Finds Over the Fourth of July!

As is my tradition, I spent the Fourth of July in Newport RI at my family's summer house. Of course, my first priority once I got into town was to hit up all my favorite antique emporiums and home good stores. Not only did I get I get some amazing things at my old faithfuls (more on that later) but I stumbled upon a newcomer to Newport called Venetucci Home, where I made some amazing discoveries.

I'd been enamored of some of the accessories that Restoration Hardware is selling this year, but I haven't been that enamored with their exorbinant prices. So you can imagine my excitement when I happened upon some reproduction gear wheels that are literally the same ones sold by Restoration Hardware but at 1/6th the price.

This is the picture I took at the store where I bought the gears:

This is the image that Restoration Hardware has on their website of their "Tractor Wheel Gear":

Can you see a difference? I literally cannot see any disparity between the two products, except that Restoration Hardware charges $189 for their version, and I picked up mine in Newport for $29.

I bought some for Jessie and Derek's apartment as well as some to decorate the showroom at Desiron where I'm interning this summer.

Vote for Me!

My Dad encouraged me to submit a collage for a new contest that the Newport Art Museum is having. I submitted 'Romeo and Juliet' and didn't really think anything of it until I got a call today that I'm a finalist. So now I'm asking all of you to go to the facebook contest page and vote for me!

News from Newport

I spent part of this weekend in Newport celebrating my Dad's birthday. It was a perfect, bright crisp autumn weekend, and I had a moment to take a few pictures:

These are amazing plates that my mom and I hung earlier this summer on the kitchen walls (on your way out the doors to the patio):


This is a funny little arrangement, one of many on the table for the Captain's birthday feast:

Me Versus The Machine

For the last few weeks I've been doing battle with the front door lock in Newport. Sometimes the key opens the door easily and I'm on my way, but sometimes it opens the door and then refuses to come out of the lock. It got so stuck yesterday that I literally used a screwdriver to remove the lock from the door and bring it to the hardware store. I'm pretty proud of my "handiness" that I was able to both remove and re-install the lock!

Watch Out: Wet Paint!

Every year, the Newport Art Museum hosts a wonderful charity fundraiser auction called "Wet Paint" that brings together the artists and art patrons of Newport for a weekend of fun. On Saturday morning, all the participating artists gather to pick up bag lunches and then disperse to spend the day painting. That evening the artists clean up and cool off at a cocktail party and preview silent auction, and on Sunday there is a public silent auction all afternoon that culminates in a rousing live auction for the 50 most popular paintings from the silent auction. All of the proceeds (or 80% of them) go to benefit the Newport Art Museum, so its not only a fun event, and a chance to snag some deals on a few really great paintings, but it also is good karma!

I contributed two paintings this year (I cheated a little and painted them both earlier this summer). While they weren't popular enough to make it to the live auction I think that the fact that they both sold is a huge improvement on last year's 'my parent's bought my art' fiasco. It was super exciting to watch people bidding on my art, and I even got to see a bidding war go down over this little beauty:


I was absolutely shocked and flattered to see that it got about ten bids and it ended up going for $120!! Not bad for the first piece of art I've ever really sold.

I had actually expected this to be the hotter ticket, mainly because its much larger, but I guess the audience was a sucker for blue. Still this went for the very respectable $95!


It's the first time I've ever had a painting (or two) go home with strangers. Its a little weird, I wonder if I'll ever walk into someone's house and see my work hanging on their wall.

For Mom's Birthday

My mom's birthday is this Monday so we're celebrating this weekend in Newport. I painted this little (8"x10") oil sketch this morning, and I'm planning to give it to her tonight. (The absolutely greatest thing about being an artist, you never have to buy presents!) You may recognize this fire hydrant, the painting is actually based on a photo I took last week and posted on the blog!

Morbid Beauty

If you look out the front windows of my parent's house in Newport RI, straight ahead just before the road curves out of view you'll see a white picket fence, and behind that fence is a colonial burying ground. Having occupied this ground since sometime in the late 1600's, the residential neighborhood has grown up and around the graveyard, so that for a few houses it sits directly in their backyard. (They are generous to extend their landscaping into the burying ground)


All of the stones bear the marks of having weathered many years:


But some are really remarkably legible, and I love the memento mori detailing:

Wandering on Historic Hill

I grabbed my camera for few hours of entertainment while strolling near my parent's weekend house in Newport, RI. Their house is in the Historic Hill district, which, like their house, dates from colonial times.


There are some fairly strict regulations on the appearances of homes, specifically their facades, so that the district retains some of its historic feeling. You are only allowed to display a maximum of three colors on the front of your house, so generally a main color, a trim color, and a vibrant door color.